Pacers ' big help' to Naperville marathoners with goal times

Runners, quick! To finish a marathon in four hours, what would be a good split at mile 20?

Maybe there's an app for that, but in Sunday morning's Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon, there's going to be a person for that, too.

A group of people who are volunteering as pacers will help runners hit their goal times - without having to do a lot of mental math on the fly.

Monica Prestifilipo of Naperville Running Company has organized 21 pacers who will run Sunday's marathon and half marathon at predictable speeds, bringing with them groups of registered runners who are set on accomplishing certain times.

"It's their responsibility to keep that pace going" so runners don't have to worry about it, Prestifilipo said.

Maybe it's that 4-hour marathon, which, by the way, calls for a 20-mile split of 3:30:12, or maybe it's a 1:30 half marathon. Maybe the goal is 5 minutes faster than a runner ever has finished before.

No matter the mark, Prestifilipo says many runners want help to achieve it.

That's where pacers come in, volunteering to run 15 to 20 minutes slower than their own top speed, gaining free race entry and helping fellow distance runners in the process.

"I'm running for someone else," said returning Naperville Marathon pacer Tricia Ruby of Grayslake. "We can do plenty of other ones throughout the year for ourselves. I'm hopefully helping someone else and still getting some miles in."

'Great tool' in racing

Like race T-shirts, finishers' medals, samples of funky granola bars and free bananas and bagels at the finish line, pacers are a benefit for marathon runners, Prestifilipo said.

Naperville Running Company offered pacers last year during the inaugural Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon and Half Marathon, and Prestifilipo said more than half of them are returning to give it a go again.

"It's a great tool to reach your goal," Prestifilipo said.

Some pacers get involved first by helping a friend reach a goal. Others, like Ruby, say they saw the appeal of running slower than their top pace and being "a little more comfortable instead of waiting for the wheels to fall off and dying at the finish."

Pacers identify themselves and their finish time by holding signs with the time atop tall, wooden sticks and standing at a corresponding spot in the starting corral. On the sticks, many pacers write the splits needed for each mile to stay on track - not starting slow and building at the end, and certainly not sprinting ahead just to lose steam and hit "the wall" with a handful of miles to go.

"A lot of people don't know how to pace themselves; they just take off," said Ruby, 45, who will be leading the 3:45 pace group. "We talk the whole time and we try to keep motivating them. They try so hard to stay by our side."

Pacers often try to keep the conversation away from the task at hand, said Michael Guth of Wisconsin, who will be pacing the 3:35 marathon group. But if talk does wander back to running, Guth said he tries to keep it funny or at least helpful, sharing "little tidbits of running knowledge" like how to avoid the urge to start at an unsustainable speed.

"I've been there before where you go out too fast, even 10 seconds a mile too fast, and it can be devastating," Guth said. "You pretty much throw out your whole run."

'A big help'

Preparing to be a pacer is much like training to race for a new personal record. Pacers follow training plans and build distance. They do speed work, strength training and stretching.

"I try to prepare just like I was actually racing it," Guth said.

Pacers are practicing to run consistently, and that's not easy. As Ruby says, even a pacer can have a bad day.

A couple of pacers in last year's race handed off their pace sticks to another runner or threw them away because they couldn't maintain speed, but Prestifilipo said she's confident this year's leaders will be "solid."

Using a stopwatch and a list of split times on the pace stick, a wristband or a temporary tattoo, 21 pacers will be running steadily and chatting amicably as runners progress through 25 neighborhoods in Naperville toward the finish line. Guth and Ruby say they don't rely on GPS watches because too many other runners will be using them simultaneously, so the devices can act up. A simple timing watch and preprinted split times are all they need.

Race Director Dave Sheble said some runners place so much value on pacers that they even send the volunteers Christmas cards - "forever."

"Pacers aren't going to guarantee that you're going to get to the finish line at the time you're looking for," Sheble said. "But for many runners, when they do hit their time, the pacers are a big help."

Pacers say they aren't in it for the Christmas cards, but they do appreciate the thanks they receive from grateful - if drained - runners after mile 26.2.

"You should feel great at the finish," Ruby said. "It can be a challenge to do it, but we really just focus on the watch."

About the race

The second annual Edward Hospital Naperville Marathon will step off at 7 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, from Hillside Road behind Naperville Central High School in downtown and weave its way through 25 neighborhoods on its 26.2-mile course. Organizers say they expect as many as 6,000 runners to participate in the marathon and half marathon. For details, visit www.naperville26.com.